Microcontroller units often include both on-chip analog peripheral devices and on-chip digital peripheral devices. The microcontroller units are powered by power supplies and/or batteries that provide voltage levels to the MCU device over a wide range of voltages. In many applications the voltage is supplied to the microcontroller at a voltage that is too high for the digital peripheral devices upon the microcontroller unit chip thus requiring the use of a voltage regulator to regulate the voltage from an applied voltage level to a regulated level usable by the digital peripheral devices.
Another problem which arises from power sources applied to a MCU device chip occurs when the voltage level applied from, for example, a battery, is lower than the voltage level required for operation of the digital peripheral devices within the microcontroller unit device chip. When this occurs, it is necessary to increase the voltage within the chip in order to obtain the necessary voltages. Present implementations make use of boost converter devices which are located external of the chip including the microcontroller unit. This requires additional space and circuitry other than that normally needed by only the microcontroller device chip. Thus, the chip requires the use of additional area for mounting of the circuitry associated with the boost converter. Thus, there is a need for a microcontroller unit device chip which does not require the use of external boost converter regulators in order to obtain voltage levels necessary to operate the digital peripherals and the microcontroller on the chip when a power source such as a battery provides voltage levels below those necessary to operate the digital peripherals and the microcontroller.